Part 3

The Assault on Shivastri’s Lair

The party takes a few minutes to regroup, and to go over the information they had gathered from Pixie Story about the layout of Shivastri’s lair. The lair has 4 main chambers:

1) Swamplands, where Shivastri is immune to attacks on Fortitude defence
2) Laboratory, where Shivastri is immune to attacks on Reflex defence
3) Treasure Chamber, where Shivastri is immune to attacks on Will defence
4) Private Chapel to Tiamat

Pressing on, the party enters the dark portal to enter the inner sanctum. Upon entering the portal, each party member finds themselves in a long corridor by themselves, engaged somehow in conversation with Shivastri herself. She offers each an inducement to turn to her side, except for Pieter, to whom she only offers threats. All offers are rejected, and the party emerges together into an antechamber with three exits.

Judging from the smells and noises coming from each exit, they correspond to the swamp, laboratory and treasure chamber. Shivastri awaits us in whichever room we choose to confront her.

After a brief review of abilities, the party pushes through into the swamp. There, Shivastri awaits in an area mostly underwater with a few hills poking barely above the water. Alongside her wait four dragonborn lieutentants armed with bows (Encounter 1a).

After a quicker battle than expected, involving some flying, some swimming, some jumping and some sinking, Shivastri makes a strategic retreat to her treasure chamber, and the party makes their way through the swamp to give chase, with varying degrees of speed.

In the treasure chamber, Hollan and Pieter fly in first and see Shivastri resting on a large pile of gold, that shifts uneasily underneath their feet when their feet touch down. They begin battle immediately, to give her no opportunity to recuperate further, and are soon joined by more of their allies (Encounter 1b). Only when Pennyworth tries to target her with magic designed to seek out the nearest enemy does the party realise that they have been attacking a decoy, a younger dragon called Googol (spelling?) who is the guardian of the treasure hoard. Shivastri herself erupts from under a mound of gold to attack the flank, and battle is renewed again until a fierce blow by X (anyone remember?) causes her to retreat again in a rage, flying off to her laboratory.

Leaving the treasure chamber in a more tight-knit group this time, the Little ‘n’ Large burst into the laboratory as one. This time they are faced with a room filled with arcane energies collected in flames, portals and devices around the room. 15 mechanical drones stand ready to defend their mistress in a variety of ways that include immobilising, preventing teleporting, suppressing arcane powers or simply shooting. As the party enters, Shivastri taunts Pennyworth in particular by unleashing a group of four repurposed warforged into the fray (Encounter 1c). One of these warforged bears a striking resemblance to a companion Pennyworth had in his earlier days as part of the The Iron Fist of Kezrak Azad. Unfortunately for the wyrm, the formidable mechanical foursome declare their orders inappropriate, defy her orders and teleport out of the battlefield. The party pressed their advantage to sweep a number of the drones aside and immobilise Shivastri for a flurry of attacks, though by now several party members were on their last reserves of health and abilities.

Shivastri escapes again and flees to her private chapel to Tiamat to lick her wounds and prepare her last stand. This time she has no allies to assist her, but the very presence of the chapel exudes an oppressive aura that begins eroding the health of the party as soon as they set foot into the room (Encounter 1d). Despite, and because of, this oppressive aura the team rushes Shivastri and pours everything they have into taking her down.

Ultimately, they prevail and the great wyrm is finally defeated by Pieter’s final killing blow. With her dying breath she curses her enemies (not magically, just words) and tells them that they are just pawns of a greater plan (The Hawk?) and her final, gasped words are ‘The Starchild lies…’

Mixed performances...

Battling through the corridors of Shivastri’s Lair, the party came face to face with a party of adventurers called Pixie Story, known to be pawns of The Hawk’s Left Hand and current associates of Shivastri.

Despite agitating for a fight by some members on both sides, a truce was negotiated with some information shared each way and the Doomswords offered to the Fairy Tale group as part of the bargain. Little ‘n’ Large learned that The Hawk has three parts to their organisation: The Left Hand, The Right Hand and The Underhand. Merrick appears to be an agent of The Right Hand, and the Pixie Story party wish to meet him. Most of the party are under magical geas not to reveal his name or whereabouts, but Kavaki (who is searching for him in relation to his lost cousin Nella) was not present for the spell and was able to assist the flow of information. The Pixie Story party are searching for some of The Towers of The Nine.

Moving on from this encounter with no blood shed on either side, the party enters a room full of statues and encounters the Swordmage Maicer Izturis, wielding the Doomblade Pallbearer. The chambers are magically warded to make teleporting painful, and there are many dragonborn in attendance. After bantering a little with Hollan, Maicer Izturis and his crew (some mages, a couple of soldiers? and two hidden assassins) attack. It is a pitched battle fought in cramped quarters with bursts of dragon breath and magical attacks going off on both sides, and the party eventually emerges battered but victorious.

At this point, Pennyworth’s consciousness is suddenly split; watching an attack by The Tri-Force on name? Kavastri’s twin brother/sister?. Two of the three Warforged are cut down in battle and all looks lost, when The Green Fire whispers to Pennyworth, asking him what sacrifice he would make to turn the tide. After barely a moment’s pause, Pennyworth gives up his knowledge of the First and Second Secrets of The Green Fire to assist his progeny. He feels The Green Fire within ebb, and then a tidal wave of power engulfs The Tri-Force and their mechanical father and destroys seriously. I can’t remember the name. The Green Fire then subsides from the breast of Pennyworth, leaving the Warlock’s to be powered by the stars (not sure how to write this bit). As a reminder of its passing, Pennyworth’s favoured implement, the Spork of Corruption he had nurtured since Goblinfest, gained in power.

Pushing further into the depths of the lair, the party no longer encounters much resistance in the corridors. Heading further down some stairs, they enter a large room where General Kavastri waits. There is no going back, and no going forward without battling through Kavastri himself, his consort [X], an avalanche dragon, two Marut bodyguards, a mage at the back and a duergar Phastamer controlling multiple spinning blades moving around the room.

Théorn’s recollections after the rage mists cleared……Théorn clambered to his feet, feeling the sting of the gravel whipping around the dragon, the “consort” of the foul Kivastri, whose head lay pulped at the feet of Kavaki.

He was aware that his friends were at the end of their strength, bloody but unbowed. He could not allow this creature to wreak its revenge upon them. He could feel the speed gathered within him, like running across the flat tundra and frozen fields of his youth.

As he raised his head, he saw the ice around the drake’s feet begin to crack as it raised itself upon its back legs and spread its wings wide, ready to hurl itself into the air. He could see with the clarity of a pure stream time flowing around him and knew he had one opportunity, one chance.

There. There was the gap and there was the blade swinging upwards, cleaving into the unprotected belly of the beast with all the power of his rage, all the weight of an avalanche. It struck the creature with a crack like the cleaving of a glacier.

Such was the force and power drawn into Théorn’s swing, Pennyworth sensed the cold…the true, deep cold that surrounded his distant guiding star. Kavaki, whilst knowing that he was shone upon by Pelor, felt that light, not as the hot sun of summer, but the fragile light that sparkles on the frost of winter. Max, shivered, for perhaps the first time in…how long? She couldn’t remember. The followers of Bahamut knew then the power of a blizzard, a storm so cold that even lightning rode reluctantly.

The dragon continued to rear but its wings flew back further and further as the body cracked, splintered and fell in two, frozen bones shattering as they hit the ground around Théorn’s feet.

With a great howl, he let the rage free, released for now, yet knowing that this would not be the last time he had to surrender to its power before this day was through.

3 prayers each at end of session (and new Action Point for reaching a milestone?)Max rolled a +12 for healing surge bonus after last encounter

Session 55

After defeating the five dragons, the heroes rest for a short while, before deciding to push on to Kagil’s laboratory. Exiting the chamber, the party moves into a temple (?), hosting a ceremony by a Paladin of Tiamat, wielding one of the Doomswords (which one?) and attended by some priests and guards. The Little ‘n’ Large press the attack to disrupt their ritual, and prevail despite crowds of minions also rushing in to the attack (Encounter 1).

They then make their way to Kagil’s laboratory, where they find him performing strange arcane and surgical operations on various creatures in cages. During the fight the PCs are assaulted by flying Rust Monsters and are able to despatch various technicians before they can release some of the creations to join the attack. Kagil is pinned in a corner of the room and beaten mercilessly (Encounter 2). Theorn can smell that shifters have been there and Kagil admits to using them to power his evil magics (or sacrificing them, something nefarious anyway.)

During the battle, Kagil is charging up a portal that he says will unleash a Tarrasque upon his enemies once it has reached full strength. After defeating the Beholder, the party jumps through the portal and finds itself in a large tower housing a baby Tarrasque. The largest of the Little ‘n’ Large barely come up over the monster’s feet but there are staircases around either side and various tubes feeding arcane energy into it. Theorn took the initiative, ran up the staircase, tightroped across onto the Tarrasques back and started pulling the feeding tubes out of it’s back. Meanwhile the rest of the party began to try and break the tubes or otherwise distract the beast. With some climbing, some falling, some flying and some soaking up of arcane energy the party are finally able to prevail and bring the gargantuan creature down (Encounter 3).

Session 54

The PCs move on from their victory over the Bogwarts students, while in a cell to one side the goliath Kavaki breaks free from his confinement and psychological conditioning. Throwing off the role they have given him of “Gagrid”, he roars “You’re a wizard, Harry!” and with Pelor’s divine blessing breaks free from the shackles, reinvigorated and restored.

Locking his two jailers in his cell, he finds his equipment stored outside and suits up, as the party enters and recognises the man that they found beside months ago on their trip out from the Borderlands. Kavaki, finding the group that he has been searching for in the hopes that they can lead him to Merrick, and thus his cousin, falls in step with the group as they burst through the double doors to confront Shansi and the Bogwarts faculty.

After a pitched battle involving professors, automata and potions being flung everywhere with abandon they finally accept the surrender of Shansi and negotiate terms. Shansi reluctantly agrees to provide them with the means to teleport into Shivastri’s lair, on condition that the party ensures that her mother and her bully of an older brother are executed to prevent any repercussions from his actions. Somewhat sadly, Shansi also informs the group that if they are to prevail, then her father Kagil and his “project” must also be destroyed before an assault on Shivastri.

The party are presented with three options for teleporting in to avoid setting off the alarms, as all transport is rigidly scheduled now:

10 students are expected in 4 hours time, to attend to The Fist of Tiamat on a 3 day spiritual retreat. These are five chromatic dragons (Black, White, Red, Green, Blue)

2 students are expected in 10 hours time, to assist Kagil in his laboratory

Shansi and an entourage are expected in 24 hours time, for a large family gathering

The party decides that time and speed are of the essence, and opts to assault the meditative retreat as it is the first opportunity, and one with sufficient numbers that they are more confident that the teleportation will take the whole group and without setting off alarms.

The group prepares themselves, and takes along with them Nox and three students who are assigned the task of studying the teleportation circles to make sure we can use them for a speedy exit later.

The dragons are taken by surprise and thrown off balance by three of them being turned into frogs by Max, the party’s very own Sorcerer Supreme. The black dragon is then swiftly dispatched while Pennyworth bravely keeps the Blue dragon at bay. Rallying together, the group takes down the White dragon and the Red dragon before some aerial acrobatics with the Green dragon nearly spells poison doom for many PCs. Good prevails, and the two remaining dragons are defeated, leaving the party to rest and lick their wounds, to steel themselves for a stealth mission to destroy the Beholder’s laboratory…

1 13,400 The Blizzard Dragon, and two Dragonborn henchmen Fight on an icesheet. Eli almost drowns in cold water Hollan’s sword upgrade to Sowrd of Gales +5, is even more awesome!
2 14,000 Fire Giant General, two Fire Giant lieutnants, two dragonborn henchmen and two swarms of combatants
3 12,400 Big Papa Bulette, two junior bulette’s and three bulette wranglers

Session 47

The party are in Gordon, capital of Voltan:

Eli receives a message encased inside a coppery, robotic bird and is instructed to meet Xanthé at Fastharriers Wind Harnesses. Arriving there he is ushered into a back room where a cloaked dwarven woman meets him. Her voice is accent and inflection free. She asks Eli to describe his history as there are only 3 Ug-Kazzíd and the queen almost never appoints them herself, it being a self-selecting group. Eli is instructed to perform a service for the Ug-Kazzíd before he can be inducted into the mysteries.

This mission is to take vengeance upon the person responsible for the Bullette attack on the mines, which we resolved. There are 4 suspects: Lord Balzal, Lady Emily, Lady Derbert and Mayor Kei$ha. The first two are ambitious, the third is a scholar mage who only recently returned to the city and the last is mayor of Sydow, the premier mining town in Voltan.

The party decides to head to the temple of Ioun for information and knowledge (after buying some trinkets – Pennyworth wants new shoes and some teleportation vines) Pennyworth at the temple manages to tear a signature of Lady Derbert from the library register, but flunks his thievery test and manages to bluff a falling over to hide this, though Hollan is required to spend the next 5 days telling the scribes of the temple of our history and experiences so that they gain some recompense for the damage caused.

On arriving back at our inn, we get an invite from “Sophia” offering us the opportunity to tender for the position of Primary Adventuring party for her, which is what Merrick asked us to do.

By duplicating a passing, newly promoted deputy vice registrant at the city archives called “Bob”, we are able to gain access to the archives, as Bob, Bob’s niece and a short workman with too many ladders. (Well, how else does a short trader work in normal sized places) and acquire a seal from the other three targets. Accidentally causing chaos and getting Bob into serious trouble. We leave and send Bob 200 crowns by way of apology (c.20 years wages)

We then perform an augury to identify the most likely cause of the Bullette – Lady Derbert! PW Pennyworth Esq. arranges a meeting with her to sell her some interesting stuff. However, we meet Merrick for lunch beforehand and get his rundown on Shivastri (See Appendix).

We then head over to Lady Derbert’s, where we are greeted by Jeeves, the warforged butler. Max is pretending to be Tink the Gnome and is not pretending to annoy the hell out of everyone. The rest of us arrive and try to negotiate a sale of stuff, which ends up being about 60k gp and Jeeves for the Diadem of the Flashing Blade, we will meet again in 3 days.

We go to pitch, with the attitude of “You know we’re good, We know we’re the best, hire us” and with arrogance and pride. Pennyworth makes a chandelier explode and we negotiate 30k.p.p.p.a. Her first task is for us to remove a diabolist from the city – lady Derbert!

We head in to Lady Derberts and try to negotiate, before kicking off a massive ruck where we take out 6 guards, get desiccated and exsanguinated by some statues and discover the carpet is actually a hole into an explosive pit. The party manages to negotiate this danger and having defeated Jeeves Pennyworth induces self-awareness into it through a portion of the Green Flame (Jeeves shortly afterwards mysteriously disappears). The party heads into the back of the house, where all the statues are alive or watching us and she is casting spells from them. We cover some of the statues eyes with blankets, ink, etc. and though wounded find the trapdoor under which she is hiding by Pennyworth speaking to sentinels. We open the trapdoor and pennyworth leaps down into what appears to be a détente, as she has one spell left and he is nearly out. Pennyworth strides forward, is hit by a final spell and Blue Screens. A very dark shade of blue indeed…

Appendix:

Shivastri’s Forces:

2000/2000 Dragonborn fighters/support

3-4000 Human cultists

Duegar & Derro

5 tribes of Hill & Fire giants

Marrut – a group of celestial mercenaries

Some strange, aberrant creatures, including a Purple Wyrm (Kagill’s menagerie)